The Space Speculation: Book 1

Chapter 21: Vanessa

Paisley's Point of View

Suddenly Vance's perfect face popped up in front of me. I remembered the day before. This, I thought, this face I could picture with the Queen. But Chad? Not Chad.

 "Why, good morning! You woke up just in time. We have just landed." Vance stood up and beckoned me to follow him.

 I was surprised to see and feel that the restraints Vance had put me in had been unlocked, and I could move freely. I leaned forward and promptly fell off the chair. I must have looked stupid with my arms and legs flailing around and trying to figure out how to move again.

 Vance chuckled and took my hand. As he pulled me to a standing position, I tottered backward, and he snapped his fingers. Two other Martians rushed forward and caught me as I fell. 

He snapped again and the chair behind me moved forward so I could sit. 

With a third snap, the chair hovered and followed Vance as he led me off the ship and over the red surface of Mars to what I thought was a large house. Turned out it was a castle. Once I realized that, my cheeks burned with embarrassment.

As I hovered behind Vance, he told me about how the Martians in line for the throne all grew up beautiful and handsome, while everyone else was common and small-minded.

 It took all of my willpower to not fall for the calm, smooth voice that came out of his handsome face. 

Finally, we stopped at the end of a long hallway and Vance turned into a room similar to the one Chad had put me in on Neptune. Except, instead of pink, everything was green, and it had a large light-green stained window. 

The walls were a light mint-green, and on the covers of the queen sized bed there was a dark olive and forest green design. The curtains had a lime green tint with swirling green flowers. On the pillows, there were outlines of pine trees.

 I looked out the window and pressed my forehead against the glass. I peered down at the red rocks lining the castle. 

"Your servant will arrive soon to get you anything you might want." Vance handed me a lime-green dress to change into for supper. 

"On Mars," Vance had told me in the spaceship, "we have seven meals. Early snack, breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, and supper. It may seem like a lot, but Martians need a lot of food to keep their strength up. When we arrive, it will be almost time for supper." 

Like Bill said, time wasn't the same on other planets as on Earth; but I remembered from somewhere that Mars and Earth had similar times.

Vance left me to change into the beautiful dress. I caught my breath as I looked in the mirror. I was, if I did say so myself, beautiful. And I did say so myself. 

I found a necklace shaped like an emerald on the bathroom counter, and as I clipped it on, I caught my breath again. The necklace added to my beauty like ten times! 

I had to concentrate and remember what I had come here to do so I wouldn't get carried away with the pleasure and comfort of being here.

 I heard a knock at my door and opened it to a servant woman. She seemed shy and kept her head down. The alien started speaking, and it sounded just the opposite of the Neptunians. She rushed into sentences and always ended as though she was excited about something. 

"IsThereAnythingYouWouldLike, Ma'am?" As she looked up at my face, a look of surprise and bewilderment appeared. 

I thought I saw a hint of a smile at the corner of her lips. She lowered her head again as a couple of male Martians passed her in the hallway. They spoke fast and excitedly, like my servant. 

"Um, not at the moment, no. But uh, could you tell me what your name is?" I asked quickly before she left. 

"OfCourse. MyNameIs, Uh, Vanessa!" She turned and hurried away down the corridor. 

I watched after her curiously. She had acted like she had seen me before. I shrugged and started down the hallway, which twisted and turned, making me feel like the walls were closing in on me. 

Before long, I was lost. I shook my head and focused on following the signs to the supper room.

I passed signs stating "EARLY SNACK ROOM", "BREAKFAST ROOM", "BRUNCH ROOM", "LUNCH ROOM", "LINNER ROOM", and "DINNER ROOM". I turned at "SUPPER ROOM", and walked in on a room full of simply dressed aliens sitting at a huge dinner table; and Vance, who was impatiently checking his watch.

 When he saw me, he walked over and embraced me. 

"Welcome! I almost thought you were going to be late! It must have been that lazy, good-for-nothing servant who didn't tell you it was time," he snarled angrily, glaring at Vanessa.

 "Uh, no, actually it was me. I, uh, I got lost in the hallways, and I wasn't watching the clock. It wasn't Vanessa's fault," I said quickly. 

 I soon realized I shouldn't have said that, because Vance immediately began yelling and scolding the maid.

"You told her your name!? I distinctly remember telling you that you weren't allowed to tell her your name!" he shouted. 

Vanessa barely flinched.

 I jumped into the conversation. 

"She didn't exactly tell me her name; I asked her to. It's not her fault!" I said desperately for the second time. 

 Vance shrugged, surprising me by giving up so easily. 

"Sure. Why not." He gestured me to sit in the chair to his left, next to a Martian whose nametag said "Victor".

Victor smiled strangely at me and offered me a giant dragonfly leg. I, as politely as I could, declined, and sat back in my chair, watching, disgusted, as the Martians ate huge dragonflies and beetle milkshakes.

 I shuddered as each of them grabbed a second bug off of the platter in the middle of the table.

 I closed my eyes and tried to think of something that would get my mind off of everything. I thought of my old life. I thought of our Cocker Spaniel, Creamsicle, whom my mom had gotten me right after my dad Jace died. Creamsicle helped me get through that dark time.  

I remembered when mischievous Creamsicle would hop up onto the counter when Mom was making her pot roast. He would always lick off the spoon, and always burn his tongue. Creamsicle never learned.

 I thought of Mom's delicious pot roast. I wished I could taste the homemade broth and tender meat.  I sniffled, and a tear slid down my nose, landing in my bug-gut-infused water in front of me. 

When I opened my eyes, I was the only one at the table; except for Vance, who sat beside me, wiping his mouth with a napkin. 

"Well that went well, didn't it?" he asked, helping me up from my chair. 

"I see you weren't hungry this evening. Well, if you don't eat your dragonfly legs you won't get goldfish ice cream later!" 

I shook my head and made a face.

This section was written by Melina